As for this book being a postmodern retelling of the Christian story, I beg to differ... To be truly postmodern, even narrative must be deconstructed, just as Quentin Tarantino did in the film Pulp Fiction and Christopher Nolan did with Memento, but this book is as straightforward as they come. It starts at the beginning, and it ends at the end.

"The empty tomb doesn't make sense without the cross, the cross doesn't make sense without the manger, and the manger doesn't make sense without the garden," says author Steven James. To understand Easter, it is necessary to experience the entire Christian story. Like people who walk in at the end of a movie and wonder what all the fuss is about, so too Christians need to know their history--from creation to the first sin, from Christ's first miracle to his death, and everything in between.

Story invites readers on a dramatic journey through the greatest story ever told. Using the power of imagery to move readers back to a place where they can encounter God, Steven James makes familiar Bible narratives come alive in provocative and poetic ways. Using thirty short, image-based chapters, Story makes the gospel real for a postmodern world and allows readers to meet Christ again or for the very first time.

Steven James is an author, storyteller, and poet. He has been a full-time speaker for almost ten years and continues to speak at conferences, churches, and special events across the country sharing his eclectic blend of drama, comedy, and inspirational storytelling. Steven is also the author of nineteen books, including How to Smell Like God, Becoming Real, and Praying from the Gut. When he's not traveling or writing, Steven likes going rock climbing, watching science fiction movies, and eating chicken fajitas. He lives with his wife and three daughters in Tennessee.

A short while ago I wrote an article called “The Misguided Quest for Relevance” in which I criticized overzealous evangelicals who are tripping over themselves to make the gospel relevant to the masses. Underlying this evangelistic fervor, I conjectured, is not so much a love of Christ as a fear that the gospel is irrelevant, that if we don’t do something to jazz it up or dumb it down, non-Christians simply won’t get it. Steven James’ new book Story: Recapturing the Mystery is a prime example of what I mean by this. Billed as “a postmodern retelling of the Christian story that makes the gospel real for today’s Christians,” it is essentially a collection of brief personal essays, poetry, and the occasional black and white photograph that attempts to jazz up the gospel while at the same time dumbing it down. It’s the worst of both worlds.

—Continue on the blog

Story: Recapture the Mystery
by Steven James
@Amazon

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